Three-dimensional photolithography simulator including rigorous nonplanar exposure simulation for off-axis illumination

Heinrich Kirchauer; Siegfried Selberherr

doi:10.1117/12.310809

29 June 1998 Three-dimensional photolithography simulator including rigorous nonplanar exposure simulation for off-axis illumination

Heinrich Kirchauer, Siegfried Selberherr

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 3334, Optical Microlithography XI; (1998) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.310809
Event: 23rd Annual International Symposium on Microlithography, 1998, Santa Clara, CA, United States

Abstract

Progress in today's semiconductor industry has been mainly achieved by decreasing the minimal feature size and increasing the complexity and thus the nonplanarity of the devices. Therefore lithography tools have to provide high resolution with a reasonably large depth of focus. Well-established methods to achieve both requirements are off-axis illumination techniques. As topography effects such as nonplanar electromagnetic scattering and notching are critical for line- width control, a rigorous three-dimensional exposure simulation considering both nonplanar surfaces as well as off- axis illumination is of utmost interest. We propose a rigorous method that meets the two challenges of nonplanar substrates and off-axis illumination. Our approach is based on a novel extension of the differential method to the third dimension. It is based on a Fourier expansion of the electromagnetic field in the lateral coordinates and thus belongs to the category of frequency-domain solvers. Due to the moderate computational costs nonplanar topography simulations including off-axis illumination can be performed on common engineering workstations. We will give a survey over the numerical algorithm of the differential method, describe the interface to the imaging and development module, and demonstrate the ability of the overall simulator by comparing simulation results for contact-hole printing over a dielectric and reflective substrates for various illumination apertures.

Citation Download Citation

Heinrich Kirchauer and Siegfried Selberherr "Three-dimensional photolithography simulator including rigorous nonplanar exposure simulation for off-axis illumination", Proc. SPIE 3334, Optical Microlithography XI, (29 June 1998); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.310809

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available